Spencer Look and Jack VanDerhei: The Assumptions That Can Put Your Retirement at Risk

Morningstar’s retirement researchers explain why your plan needs to account for potential Social Security changes, long-term-care costs, and a longer life.

Today, we’re happy to welcome two guests from the Morningstar Center for Retirement & Policy Studies. Spencer Look is the associate director of retirement studies and public policy for Morningstar, and Jack VanDerhei is the director of retirement studies and public policy. Jack previously worked as the research director at the Employee Benefit Research Institute from 1996 through 2022. Spencer and Jack both produce a lot of really helpful research on retirement outcomes, Social Security reform, and retirement policy. One of the highlights was their more balanced take on whether there’s really a retirement crisis in the US. We hear a lot of really dire warnings about that, so we appreciated their perspective on where there’s room for improvement, as well as data on things that aren’t quite as bad as some people might have us believe. You won’t be surprised to hear that we really enjoyed the discussion about long-term care. Spencer and Jack have both concluded that the retirement planning community has underrated long-term care as a risk factor for people’s retirement plans.

Morningstar Center for Retirement & Policy Studies: https://www.morningstar.com/business/insights/retirement/center-for-retirement-and-policy-studies

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:02:52 Modeling US Retirement Outcomes

00:07:06 Is There a Retirement Crisis?

00:11:17 Evaluating Retirement Policy Reform

00:14:49 Planning for Social Security Changes

00:18:01 Access, Auto‑Enrollment, and Accumulation

00:21:14 How the Saver’s Match Works

00:30:52 Turning Savings Into Retirement Income

00:34:45 Planning for Long-Term-Care Costs and Longevity

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This episode is sponsored by Vanguard: https://advisors.vanguard.com/engagement/fixed-income